Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has decided to set up the state’s first mud crab hatchery with a production capacity of 5 lakh seed units at Paradip to bring down the dependence of farmers on the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA) in Chennai.
The hatchery will be established at a cost of Rs 2.81 crore under the Enhancing Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities (ECRICC) project supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), an official release said on Wednesday.
“The new unit will bring a transformative change in the fortunes of mud crab farmers and reduce their dependence on the RGCA, saving time and money significantly. it will also elevate their economic standing and foster increased interest in mud crab farming among the community,” Forest, Environment & Climate Change Minister Ganeshram Singh Khuntia said after approving the signing of the agreement for this much-anticipated project.
He added that Odisha will soon emerge as a vibrant hub of mud crab seed production.
A tripartite agreement between the Forest, Environment and Climate Change department’s ECRICC-GCF, fisheries directorate and RGCA will be signed soon to facilitate the implementation. While ECRICC-GCF will provide the financial support, RGCA will extend technical expertise to set up the hatchery, it added.